How can podcasts be effectively integrated into a secondary classroom?

I grew up down by Philadelphia, about two hours away from where I currently live. In being so far away, I miss some of the Philly experience including REAL cheesesteaks, the city buzzing with October baseball, and great radio. One of those things I pine for has made its way out to me in a podcast. Every day I download my favorite morning show via iTunes, plug in my iPod, and listen on my way to work. Since discovering a little bit of home in a podcast, I’ve stumbled across another great podcast called Grammar Girl. She posts “quick and dirty” grammar tips for better writing, something anyone including me, the English teacher, could use. I labored for hours one day after school trying to find a meaningful way to incorporate her into my grammar instruction. Grammar is every English teacher’s challenge. How can I teach these topics crucial to a student’s academic development without boring them to death? Grammar instruction of days gone by was a lesson on the board followed by drills, drills, and more drills. Great teachers work to make their content relevant and meaningful to students. This is much easier done with literature of all periods and genres, but who is really going to be interested in learning and practicing comma usage with appositives? Students don’t care that improper grammar usage makes them look uneducated. They’re used to writing what they want and how they want with little consequences on Facebook, instant messaging, or texting. So how can I give them this essential information in a new and dare I say exciting way without the use of the podcast seeming contrived?

I thought about playing the podcast in class and having students take notes from her “lesson.” She goes too quickly for that. I thought about having students access the episodes themselves searching for specific information much like a webquest. We could do this at school, but I would need them to bring in headphones. It’s hard enough to get students to do a 15 minute homework assignment. Now, they need to bring something for grammar instruction, their favorite, the next day. However, it would be nice to have 25 9^th graders silent and plugged in. It could be homework as well, but this always opens up the “I don’t have internet at home” discussion. I’m still always shocked to hear this and it almost limits what I can do with technology when one kid in the class can’t do the assignment. There are always alternatives, but that student still might still feel singled out and that’s not the point of integrating technology in the classroom. It’s supposed to enhance learning and not mess with the already fragile psyches of the fifteen year old. At the college level and beyond, students can be required to have a certain type of technology or access to the web and it’s expected that if the assignment is to listen to a podcast, then it’s going to be done. I know there are the bums even that this level who will feel exempt from the work, but this idea is so foreign to me. So keeping all these factors in mind, where is the podcast’s place in the secondary classroom? Or is there one?

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Comment by Andy Petroski on March 24, 2011 at 12:29pm: Have the students create podcasts based off of their own writing. There's no grammar check like trying to read back your own writing, or worse yet, hearing your own improper grammar. Group work, peer review and other community-based content creation and feedback can also add to the activity.

As they create podcasts, they might be more open to listening to them (for learning) as well.

Would that approach work in your environment, with your students? What challenges and opportunities do you see?

Comment by Amanda Baker on March 26, 2011 at 9:04am: That's a great idea! Proofreading is often an issue with 9th graders and this is a new and interesting approach to peer editing.

As far as challenges, the time it would take to create a seamless podcast with no reading errors might be an issue. For an effective peer review, all time it would take is the time to read an essay, check some boxes, and write a comment or two. What might I need to cut out later down the road to be able do this in the most effective and meaningful way? However, I think the benefits of hearing their writing would outweigh the time it would take to create it. I think it would also engage students more in the process. I see no interest in rereading what they write. In an world where they have been conditioned to receive responses almost always instantaneously, they have no desire to go back to something that is in their eyes as done even though it really not done. No piece of writing is ever finished on the first draft and this process would show them that instead of me telling them to rolling eyes and sighs.